Who is part of your TEAM?

As we approach the end of Multiple Birth Awareness week (MBAW) 2015 I hope that everyones efforts have paid off and that there are a few less bewildered parents-to-be wondering where to turn for advice after discovering they will have more than one extra mouth to feed.
I hope that a few more people have realised that the Mum pushing the pram full of adorable Newborn multiple babies will benefit far more from a few words of encouragement than a barrage of questions about how she conceived them.

The theme of MBAW 2015 was T.E.A.M. and it has had all us Multi-parents thinking about who we consider to be a part of our own “Team”.

I asked Neil Ward (founder of the “Multiple Dads Sanctuary” Facebook page) for a Dads perspective on the question “who do you consider a part of your Team?” and to add another twist, I asked him to choose a Male.

The first point that Neil made was that “the Mates that are there before having kids are very different to those you make after.

A close acquaintance from before the Twins arrived had always said to Neil “Two kids close to the same, it’s all the same” that was until 7 months ago when this person also became a Dad to Twins and realised the difference! Yes, Neil did get an apology “it was really refreshing to hear”.

One of Neils Post-kids friends who he considers an influential part of his TEAM is Dale Ballentine.

“Dale actually runs “Mr Dad” here in Brisbane, which is an ante-natal class for the Dads down the pub.”

Dale is a Mid-wife and a Dad of Multiples which puts him in a very unique position. He is able to explain not only the basics like changing a nappy and the mental health side of things, but he can also explain things like Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) and the Zygosity of your twins.

“It’s not every week that we get to catch up, its very infrequent, He’s busy, I’m busy, but every time we touch base theres something new, something interesting.”

“Dale is probably the one who has given me the most influence because he has the same philosophy, he wants to help others, that’s the driving force of the combination….and he has Multiples.”

If you are an expectant father (Singleton or Multiples) you should head over to Mr Dad to find out more.

So that’s the end of MBAW 2015, It was great to see so many event’s going on all over Australia -I’m sure we’ll be hearing all about those events on the Facebook forums and AMBA page over the next few weeks.

I’d like to say Thank you to all those who have contributed to the Event, the organisers and all those who took part in some way.